When you hear "Stunnin'," Curtis Waters comes to mind. You may not have heard about the featured artist in the song—Harm Franklin. This Canadian Hip-hop Artist sang an excellent verse. The collaboration made Curtis Waters more popular, forgetting about Franklin in the process. I think it's time we know more about the guy.
More about Harm Franklin
Do you know who Harm Franklin is? Well, Franklin was born in Toronto, Canada, but he grew up in Calgary, Alberta. He is a great songwriter, and in addition, his songs always express genuine emotions. Franklin has been through a lot of experiences in life, which pushes him towards his song messages.
He once said that he prayed to God every day to give him the strength to move on. He would tell God that he knew that he's a star and not just a typical artist. He needed a clear path in his music career.
The collaboration of "Stunnin'" with the American artist, Curtis Waters, hit immediately after release. The single currently has over 200 million streams on Spotify. Generally, the song has received over 650 million streams worldwide. However, not many people know about Franklin.
Harm Franklin's selection of beats have been unique all the way through, resulting in a sweet melody that makes him stand out as an artist. His message in songs surrounds emotions like heartbreak, love, and some bitter realities of his upbringing in Calgary.
A lot of people who listen to Harm's music tend to develop unique emotions. They feel that the song directly speaks to them. Today's society is exposed to evil, love, judgments, bitterness, which seems to be what Harm sings about—something that his fans love about his songs.
To build his career brand, he organized shows in his hometown of Calgary. In addition, Franklin joined Sujit Kundu's S.K.A.M., a talent booking agency that started in 2004, and it has over 80 DJs who spin everything, starting from pop, crossover hits, and hip-hop. Harm also enlisted entrepreneur Justin Ashar, with his Pug Life Agency, to join his street team.
Some sign of breakthrough?
Franklin was driving his car when he heard his collabo song "Stunnin'" playing on the radio. A feeling that he describes as being "unique happiness" engulfed him. To him, it was like a dream come true.
You can ask the artists you know out there who are struggling to be known. Their situation is no different from Franklin's. Big blogs like Billboard, Lyrical Lemonade and Genius have featured Harm Franklin in their posts. He has also been featured twice in Complex's Northern Touch Song of the Month.
In his song, 'Last Year,' produced by Adam Sousa in Toronto, he talked about how he was so down. He was constantly praying for a breakthrough. His producers said he would be releasing a new song every month as they worked on his HOUNDS project and other collaborations with Curtis Waters.
Harm said that since he has an Indian heritage, he will do Punjabi songs mixed with English. He says that the new version will be unique. He added that he would like to collaborate with AP Dhillon to bridge the gap in Punjabi music.
Has it been hard for Harm Franklin to enter the American music industry?
Harm admits that there has been slow acceptance of more brown voices in the American music industry.
He added that the industry people sometimes told him the bare truth. They said that it was a hard nut to crack when entering the American music industry, a statement that discouraged him so much in his career.
But due to Nav—the Indo-Canadian hip hop artist, Americans have started to like music from the East. Harm wrote about toxic relationships in his "Bad Guy" record. It's a good reflection of reality. The chorus is said to have been influenced by one of the rapper's favorite films, Scarface (1983).
The 'Bad Guy' music video plays a scene from Al Pacino. Harm portrayed that when you start to imagine you are unbeatable, you crash and burn out.
The 'Stunnin' collaboration released in May 2020
Harm has been having a long-standing relationship with the Nepali-origin-American artist, Curtis Waters. The association was on for over three years before they did the "Stunnin'" single.
Nobody knows whether a song is going to hit after it releases. With TikTok, the song exploded. Harm now believes that fans would like to have another collaboration with Curtis Waters for part 2.
Harm says that when "Stunnin'" hit hard after release, it made him work harder than ever.
"Stunnin'" on Tik Tok
His collaborator, Curtis Waters, studied how popular songs were trending on TikTok. He decided to do several short videos of "Stunnin'" with his brother and posted them on TikTok for the first time. Surprisingly, the dance received hundreds of thousands of views in one night. It was an instant hit.
This collaboration has received over 30 million views on the YouTube video in one year.
